Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa (l.), seen here with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont on Capitol Hill last month, voted in favor of a bill to crack down on 'straw' buyers of guns Thursday.

Susan Walsh/AP/File

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Washington

The Senate took a crucial step toward passing its first piece of gun-control legislation since December's massacre in Newtown, Conn., moving a bill to crack down on "straw" purchases of firearms and gun trafficking out of committee.

With Senator Grassley's support, the bill is tantalizingly close to the 60 votes needed to break a potential filibuster on the legislation. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois have already signaled their support, and even deeply conservative members such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama expressed optimism Thursday that they could support the measure with relatively minor changes before it comes to the Senate floor.

But prospects remain murky for the rest of President Obama's gun-control agenda. While bipartisan talks continue over a measure to require universal background checks on all firearms sales, bills to ban assault weapons or high-capacity magazines look like a long shot to get to the 60-vote threshold.

The straw purchasing legislation was the only gun-control bill voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, leaving questions about the other gun-control priorities laid out by Mr. Obama after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown.

The proposal to require universal background checks, broadly considered the next-most likely bill to pass the Senate, is currently in a state of limbo. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) of New York has offered a proposal to be taken up by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but his discussions with key senators with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association – including Sens. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma and Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia – broke down over record keeping for gun sales between private individuals. Senator Kirk, another Republican involved in the talks, also announced he could not support Senator Schumer’s bill at present.